Founding members of the Texas Organic Cotton Marketing Cooperative remember what it was like to take the risk to go organic almost two decades ago, while newer members look ahead at the future of organic cotton.

In 1994, we made the decision to take a stand against chemically intensive cotton and switch to organically grown cotton throughout our line. In hindsight, it was an audacious goal as the quantity of cotton in our line was quite small in the giant world of cotton production.

Here’s what we’re doing to make sure Patagonia products are produced under safe, fair, legal and humane working conditions throughout the supply chain – and some background on how we got to where we are today.

Patagonia keeps close tabs on wages paid in all of our partner factories so we can ensure the workers who make our clothes are earning at least a minimum wage in the locales where they work. But in most instances we do not know whether those wages are enough to afford a decent standard of living.

Knowing we are part of the problem, we focus on specific things Patagonia can do to reduce, neutralize, or even reverse the root causes of climate change. We believe in extending our mission to cause no unnecessary harm to every area where Patagonia has influence. That way, as Patagonia grows in size, our efforts to meet the challenge of our mission can be amplified exponentially.

The shells we make are contributing to climate change. Despite our best efforts to minimize this contribution, we are still part of the problem. Learn about the good and bad environmental aspects of making shells.

We have been working diligently to develop a new wool supply chain that reflects high, and verifiable, standards for both animal welfare and land management. See what we have accomplished so far and what we have yet to accomplish.

As our company grows, we are faced with this challenge: the more we produce, the greater our impact is on the environment. If we are going to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis, as our mission states, we have to reduce our overall impact, regardless of the number of products we sell.